Plainsboro middle school international service club discusses cultural differences with Congo officials

PLAINSBORO — When 14-year-old Lea Goldhammer wakes up in Plainsboro each morning, she eats breakfast supplied by her parents and prepares for an eighth grade school day at Community Middle School where she learns about mathematical theories and conducts scientific experiments. It’s a life of security and safety and it comes with a promise of a bright future.

Meanwhile, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a 15-year-old girl named Kenge was forced into prostitution to earn enough money to get an education. The only daughter in a family of seven orphans, Kenge had to fend for herself after her mother, father and uncle died and could no longer support her, officials from the country told a group of about 40 middle school students yesterday as they listened attentively.

“I want you to know that in my country, most girls are married at very young ages, 12 years, 14 years. They can be married to adult men and they accept that,” said Mme Monique Misenga Mukuna, president of Woman, Cradle of Abundance. “Women are victims of violence — girls, boys, orphans who don’t have anyone to pay school fees for them. Families can spend three days without any food.”

Congo is considered one of the worst places in the world to be a woman, with a high incidence of rape and rampant violence, Mukuna said. While a war that began in 1997 continues to rage in eastern parts of the country, it is often young girls, mothers and grandmothers who suffer at the hands of militants and husbands.

Mukuna visited the United States for the first time yesterday to speak with Hands Across the Water, a student group started by Community Middle School teacher Cheryl Ciaranca six years ago as a pen-pal exchange that’s grown into a fundraising group to help Congolese children get an education.

Mukuna told stories of children struggling to survive across the world as the West Windsor-Plainsboro teens sat in a circle around her, their eyes widening as the details became harder to imagine.

“Most parents are dead from AIDS. Do you know what AIDS is?” Mukuna asked as the students slowly shook their heads. Mukuna is a member of the nonprofit group Woman, Cradle of Abundance, which was founded by Congolese women and empowers women and girls to fight violence and poverty. It supports a sewing school where girls learn a trade, provides medical care for those living with HIV and AIDS and counsels survivors of rape and prostitution, Mukuna said.

Based in Congo’s capital city of Kinshasa, the organization also supplies school uniforms and tuition fees for destitute children and runs a flour mill to support its projects.

“We have decided to help those people who don’t have anybody to take care of them, mostly children and girls and women,” Mukuna said as she sat before the students wearing clothing sewn by students at the sewing school. “We can’t teach them skills and help them raise money if they don’t know how to read and to write.”

Mukuna told the story of a young girl who became an orphan after she was shunned from her family because they believed she was a witch.

“Nobody wanted to take care of her. She caught TB (tuberculosis) and she became very sick,” Mukuna said. “We helped her with a hospital, and she was healed from TB. We helped put her through school. She had her life saved because of our support.”

Ritika Vijapurkar, a 13-year-old student, said she didn’t realize how bad things were for the children in Congo.

“It’s hard to have hope and think one day something is going to change, but they’re really working hard and inspiring us to take action and help out others,” Vijapurkar said. “It makes you rethink every single aspect of your life.”

Hands Across the Water has partnered with a branch of Woman, Cradle of Abundance started in the United States last year and headed by Elsie McKee of Princeton Theological Seminary, who grew up and was raised in Congo, Ciaranca said.

“We complain that we don’t have a snack today when meanwhile they eat one meal if they’re lucky,” Goldhammer said after hearing stories of Congolese children deprived of basic necessities. “I complain that I’m not getting a new pair of shoes for the school year when they have nothing.”

After answering questions from the students who said they were inspired by Mukuna’s heartfelt stories, two students presented Mukuna with a Community Middle School T-shirt for herself and 12 more to take back to Congo with her.

“Giving someone a shirt over there is like, ‘I have clothing on my back and it’s new. It wasn’t worn by anyone else. It’s not bleached out. It’s not ripped. It’s not soiled.’” Ciaranca said. “One child at a time — that’s our motto.”